BANKING ANALYTICS

Ranking of the Azerbaijani banking sector (ranking includes the information component of the banking sector, the main events of the world economy, the analytical review of the main indices of the banks which are being ranked)

Australian ore extraction firm to develop uranium in Ukraine

(dpa)
- An Australian ore extraction firm agreed with Ukraine's government to develop
uranium production in the former Soviet republic, according to a Tuesday
company statement.

West Australia-registered Uran
Limited, formerly known as Great Western Exploration Ltd, is set to evaluate
and develop two uranium fields in Ukraine.

Were the project to go forward,
it would mark the first foreign development of Ukraine's uranium reserves, aside
from existing programmes with Russia continuing from the days of the Soviet
Union.

The two fields, the
Novogurevskoye and the Surskoye, are located in Ukraine's eastern
Dnipropetrovsk region.

A Ukrainian uranium enrichment
plant, the VostGOK mill in the nearby city Zelty Vody, will partner with Uran
Ltd in the development programme.

A final agreement on a proposed
joint venture is, according to the statement, expected in April.

The value of Uran Ltd investment
into the project, and possible share division in the enterprise was not made
public pending the agreement's signing.

Uran Ltd was interested in
acquiring a stake in other uranium- related businesses in Ukraine, including a
possible 50 per cent share in the Novokonstantinovska shaft in the central
Kirovograd province, Interfax reported.

Ukraine is one of the 10 or so
countries in the world with significant uranium reserves. The element is
critical for Ukrainian energy independence as Ukraine generates approximately
half its electricity using nuclear power.

Ukraine however is not capable of
enriching its uranium to a quality suitable for use in a nuclear station. At
present Ukraine processes the uranium partially and sends it onward to Russia
for final enrichment.

Ukrainian nationalist politicians
have long argued Ukraine needs to find an alternative uranium supply to through
Russia, because of frequent poor relations between the two counties.

Russia for its part has argued
Ukraine should not be able to enrich uranium ore into reactor-grade fuel, as the
same process could create weapons-grade uranium suitable for use in an nuclear
device.

Ukraine inherited the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world
when the Soviet Union broke up, but Kiev rejected the use of nuclear weapons in
1992 and had removed or destroyed all warheads on its territory by 1996.